KPOP CONFESSION #14: National Grand Chorus, I Am Korea "The Day We Meet"

So I already knew about the "I Am Korea" special that happened in May 2015, which celebrated the 70th anniversary of National Liberation of Korea or Gwangbokjeol (광복절), which happened on August 15,1945 (Little vocabulary for ya ;)). But I never got around to watching it..............until now.

The guests invited to participate in this special event included:
EXO's Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Chen
SISTAR
INFINITE's Sunggyu, L
Girls' Day
Baek JiYoung
Kim ChangRyul
APINK's Eunji
Kim Bumsoo
Kim Taewoo
DAVICHI
Insooni
Bada
EXID's Hani
Ali
B1A4's Sandeul
Rose Motel
Moon Myungjin
Ailee
TEENTOP's Niel
MFBTY (Tiger JK, Bizzy, Yoon Mirae)
DJ DOC
Jo Youngnam

I honestly believe this is THE most beautiful Korean song I've ever listened to. Yes, there's the sappy ballads, catchy pop songs, semi-rock bands, and the hip-hop, but those songs aren't as relatable (and they're barely relatable to the people who perform them) as they are to this song. This song expresses love for Korea, which most, if not all of Koreans share for their country (unless you live in the U.S. and hate your country XD).

This song puts an emphasis on the positive aspects of collectivism (group over individual), while the negative aspects of it are noticed more in K-Pop like similar faces due to plastic surgery (one ideal type), too many [untalented] group members, and lack of freedom for creativity and expression. 

I've only seen the first episode of the "I Am Korea" series, but I thought it was amazing! It also gave a behind-the-scenes look of the recording of the song and MV. 

After watching this, I nearly cried, even though this isn't even celebrating my own country XD. When all of the artists were coming in, they didn't come in with their usual "I'm lowkey tired but I'll smile for the cameras" look. They all seemed genuinely honored that they've been picked to participate in this event (and also nervous since it's a BIG deal). And near the end before they started recording the MV for "The Day We Meet", all of the artists were meeting and greeting each other as if they were at a family reunion, and not as if they were a huge collective singers put together to sing a song. I've seen American artists work together to make musical projects about unity, but they've never reached or compare to the level of unity expressed by the National Grand Chorus. Singers and/or rappers, people of different generations, people with different musical roots, are able to look as if they are one and that's unnaturally impressive to me. Just remember, no matter how fake or forced your idols look/are, just remember their love for their country is real.


P.S. Yes, I know I went AWOL for almost two months, but I'm finally done with my first semester and exams(my school district decided to switch things up this year and add another week for the first semester *rolls eyes*). I plan on updating more frequently now that everything has slowed down a bit for me.